| 1. |
- Ait-Ali, Abderrahman, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Are commuter train timetables consistent with passengers’ valuations of waiting times and in-vehicle crowding?
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Many models have been developed and used to analyse the costs and benefits of transport investments. Similar tools can also be used for transport operation planning and capacity allocation. An example of such use is the assessment of commuter train operations and service frequency. In this study, we analyse the societally optimal frequency for commuter train services. The aim is to reveal the implicit valuation (by the public transport agency) of the waiting time and the in-vehicle crowding in the commuting system. We use an analytic CBA model to formulate the societal costs of a certain service frequency and analyse the societally optimal frequencies during peak and off-peak hours. Comparing the optimal and the actual frequencies allows to reveal the implicit valuations of waiting time and crowding. Using relevant data from the commuter train services in Stockholm on a typical working day in September 2015 (e.g., OD matrix, cost parameters), we perform a numerical analysis on certain lines and directions. We find the societally optimal frequency and the implicit valuation of waiting time and crowding. The results suggest that the public transport agency in Stockholm (i.e., SL) adopted service frequencies that are generally slightly higher than societally optimum which can be explained by a higher implicit valuation of waiting time and crowding. We also find that the optimal frequencies are more sensitive to the waiting time valuation rather than that of crowding.
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| 2. |
- Ait-Ali, Abderrahman, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Are commuter train timetables consistent with passengers’ valuations of waiting times and in-vehicle crowding?
- 2022
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Ingår i: Transport Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0967-070X .- 1879-310X. ; 116, s. 188-198
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Social cost-benefit analysis is often used to analyse transport investments, and can also be used for transport operation planning and capacity allocation. If it is to be used for resolving capacity conflicts, however, it is important to know whether transit agencies' timetable requests are consistent with the cost-benefit framework, which is based on passenger preferences. We show how a public transport agency's implicit valuations of waiting time and crowding can be estimated by analysing timetables, apply the method to commuter train timetables in Stockholm, and compare the implicit valuations to the corresponding passenger valuations in the official Swedish cost-benefit analysis guidelines. The results suggest that the agency puts a slightly lower value on waiting time and crowding than the passenger valuations codified in the official guidelines. We discuss possible reasons for this and implications for using cost-benefit analysis for capacity allocation. We also find that optimal frequencies are more sensitive to the waiting time valuation than to that of crowding.
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| 3. |
- Ait Ali, Abderrahman, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Measuring the Socio-economic Benefits of Train Timetables : Application to Commuter Train Services in Stockholm
- 2017
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Ingår i: 20th EURO Working Group on Transportation Meeting, EWGT 2017, 4-6 September 2017, Budapest, Hungary. - : Elsevier. ; , s. 849-856
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- On highly used railway lines with heterogeneous traffic, timetabling is challenging. In particular, the limited existing capacity means that to guarantee an acceptable level of quality, the infrastructure manager must cancel some train services on the expense of others. In this article, we study the conflict between commercial long-distance trains and subsidized commuter trains with a socio-economic perspective (i.e. travelers and train operators). The study attempts to answer the following question: What is the socio-economic effect of modifying the timetable of a commuter service?The case study treats the commuter train services in Stockholm. Trip data was collected from the local commuter train operator. An entropy maximization-based model was implemented to estimate the dynamic network Origin-Destination (OD) matrix. This dynamic matrix, of one full working day, was then used to estimate the number of travelers per train, and further converted for use in the microscopic simulation tool RailSys. Travel and waiting time are estimated for each OD pair and with that the generalized costs for the travelers and operators. The effect of crowding in the trains is included in the estimation. The article can be considered as an initiation to a novel method to calculate effects of changes in commuter train timetables. This novel approach enables to price commercial train slots in the capacity allocation process such as in an auction. It provides a new way to estimate the local train operator´s valuation of the different parameters (i.e. waiting, travel time and interchanges). Using RailSys for the estimation of times makes it possible to include capacity aspects that normally are difficult to reveal.
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| 4. |
- Ait-Ali, Abderrahman, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Pricing commercial train path requests based on societal costs
- 2020
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Ingår i: Transportation Research Part A. - : Elsevier. - 0965-8564 .- 1879-2375. ; 132, s. 452-464
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- On deregulated railway markets, efficient capacity allocation is important. We study the case where commercial trains and publicly controlled traffic (“commuter trains”) use the same railway infrastructure and hence compete for capacity. We develop a method that can be used by an infrastructure manager trying to allocate capacity in a socially efficient way. The method calculates the loss of societal benefits incurred by changing the commuter train timetable to accommodate a commercial train path request, and based on this calculates a reservation price for the train path request. If the commercial operator's willingness-to-pay for the train path exceeds the loss of societal benefits, its request is approved. The calculation of these benefits takes into account changes in commuter train passengers’ travel times, waiting times, transfers and crowding, and changes in operating costs for the commuter train operator(s). The method is implemented in a microscopic simulation program, which makes it possible to test the robustness and feasibility of timetable alternatives. We show that the method is possible to apply in practice by demonstrating it in a case study from Stockholm, illustrating the magnitudes of the resulting commercial train path prices. We conclude that marginal societal costs of railway capacity in Stockholm are considerably higher than the current track access charges.
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| 5. |
- Ait-Ali, Abderrahman, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Pricing commercial train path requests based on societal costs
- 2019
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- On deregulated railway markets, efficient capacity allocation is important. We study the case where commercial trains and publicly controlled traffic (“commuter trains”) use the same railway infrastructure and hence compete for capacity. We develop a method that can be used by an infrastructure manager trying to allocate capacity in a socially efficient way. The method calculates the loss of social benefits incurred by changing the commuter train timetable to accommodate a commercial train path request and based on this calculates a reservation price for the train path request. If the commercial operator’s willingness-to-pay for the train path exceeds the loss of social benefits, its request is approved. The calculation of social benefits takes into account changes in commuter train passengers’ travel times, waiting times, transfers and crowding, and changes in operating costs for the commuter train operator(s). The method is implemented in a microscopic simulation program, which makes it possible to test the robustness and feasibility of timetable alternatives. We show that the method is possible to apply in practice by demonstrating it in a case study from Stockholm, illustrating the magnitudes of the resulting commercial train path prices. We conclude that marginal societal costs of railway capacity in Stockholm are considerably higher than the current track access charges.
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| 6. |
- Fröidh, Oskar, et al.
(författare)
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Capacity for express trains on mixed traffic lines
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Rail Transportation. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 2324-8386 .- 2324-8378. ; 2:1, s. 17-27
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mixed traffic with large speed differences between fast and slower trains consumesmore capacity and makes the system sensitive to disruptions. This article focuses onadequate train configuration for increasing the top speed for express trains like theGreen Train and how that affects capacity on lines with heterogeneous traffic.Microscopic simulation of a future timetable selected by criteria revealed by analyticaltimetable analysis for a chosen structure of services combines the advantages of twomethods and makes it possible to reveal relevant characteristics for different alternatives.Punctual short stops through better train layout and skip-stop operation forregional trains are a few of the measures that are shown to have compensating effectsfor the increase in capacity utilisation and can reduce disruptions. Although it ispossible to reduce the perturbations by means of different measures, the basic problemwith mixing fast and slower trains on the same line still remains.
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| 7. |
- Fröidh, Oskar, et al.
(författare)
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Europakorridoren : Kapacitet och restider
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Restiderna kan förkortas radikalt med nya stambanor i höghastighetsstandard vilket indikerar stora effekter för samhället. Typiska restidsförkortningar är 50-75 % jämfört med dagens restider med tåg och buss där det idag saknas järnväg, och 35-45 % där de snabba tågen körs på höghastighetsbanan istället för på Västra eller Södra stambanan.De radikalt förkortade restiderna ger en tillgänglighetsförbättring för människor i en stor del av Sverige. Möjligheten till snabbare tjänsteresor är viktig för näringslivet. Det ger också förutsättningar för arbetspendling på längre sträckor än vad som är möjligt idag, vilket bidrar till en regionförstoring och större arbetsmarknadsregioner som ger positiva effekter för den regionala ekonomin.I detta uppdrag har utformningen av bansystemet i Europakorridoren och hur det ska integreras i det befintliga järnvägsnätet setts över. Utgångspunkten är höghastighetsutredningen (SOU 2009:74).Nya stambanor ger kapacitet för betydligt flera tågförbindelser och flera direkta tåg istället för bytesförbindelser jämfört med idag. Dessutom avlastas Västra och Södra stambanorna snabbtåg som ger utrymme för flera godståg och regionaltåg. Det är viktigt att de nya stambanorna planeras och dimensioneras för den trafik som kan bli aktuell i ett längre perspektiv. På flera sträckor kommer den tillkommande kapaciteten att räcka till utan särskilda problem förutsatt att tågtrafiken får en god punktlighet och hastighetsskillnaderna mellan tågen är relativt små, men särskilt på delsträckorna Ostlänken och Göteborg–Borås kan kapacitetsutnyttjandet bli högt. Av den anledningen föreslås några förändringar för att ge ett bättre trafiksystem.De förändringar av bansystemet och trafik som föreslås för kapacitetsförbättringar är:415 m långa plattformar enligt europeisk standard, för sammankoppling av två tågdelar till olika destinationer och därmed spara ett tågläge i högtrafik.En kort dubbelspårig bibana Skavsta flygplats–Nyköping C istället för en längre enkelspårig för att få en god turtäthet till dessa stationer med färre antal tåg.Snabba interregiotåg mellan Borås och Göteborg med avgång var 30:e minut som gör uppehåll i Kråktorp/Bollebygd, Landvetters flygplats och Mölnlycke istället för regionaltåg.Trafiklösning i Skåne, där huvudlinjen från Jönköping direkt till Lund och Malmö, med anslutning till Hässleholm, och en gren från Markaryd till Helsingborg och Köpenhamn, ger mycket bra förbindelser och korta restider.
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| 8. |
- Fröidh, Oskar, et al.
(författare)
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Green Train : Comfort evaluation of active secondary suspension
- 2013
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- One of the ideas selected for development in the Green Train research and development programme is active secondary suspension. Bombardier Transportation, Sweden, has with support of KTH designed and tested both active lateral suspension (ALS) and active vertical suspension (AVS) that can improve the ride comfort and make higher speeds possible on existing tracks. The two active suspension systems were evaluated with passengers to allow KTH Railway Group to capture their perceived differences in ride comfort.Our conclusion is that active secondary suspension (ALS/AVS) improves perceived comfort and makes it easier for passengers to move about the train while it is motion while an increase in speed (from category B to category C) has an opposite effect of approximately the same magnitude. This shows that active secondary suspension can contribute to permitting higher speeds on conventional lines with imperfect track geometry.The higher uncompensated lateral force on bends resulting from higher speeds (category C), however, makes it significantly more difficult to move about the train for travellers with reduced mobility and this needs to be taken into consideration.
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| 9. |
- Fröidh, Oskar, et al.
(författare)
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The European Corridor : Capacity and journey times
- 2014
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- New main lines provide capacity for considerably more services and more direct trains (instead of routes where passengers need to change) than today. Pressure is also reduced on the express trains on the Western and Southern main lines, freeing up capacity for more freight trains and regional trains. It is important that the new main lines be planned and dimensioned for the traffic that can be expected in a more long-term perspective. On several routes,the additional capacity will be sufficient without any particular problems provided that traffic has good punctuality and speed differences between trains are relatively small, but capacity utilisation may be high on the East Link and between Gothenburg and Borås. For this reason, a number of changes are proposed in order to improve the traffic system.
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| 10. |
- Johansson, Ingrid, 1990-, et al.
(författare)
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Microscopic and macroscopic simulation of early freight train departures
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In Sweden and other countries it is not an uncommon practice that freight trains depart more or less on-demand instead of strictly following a pre-planned timetable. However, the systematic effects of freight trains departing late or, in particular, early has long been a contested issue. Although some microscopic simulation tools currently have the capability to evaluate the effect of freight trains departing before schedule, it has yet not been established how macroscopic simulation tools, capable of fast simulation of nation-wide networks, can manage such tasks. This paper uses a case study on a line between two large freight yards in Sweden to investigate how the results of microscopic and macroscopic simulation, represented by two modern simulation tools, differ when it comes to this particular problem. The main findings are that both the microscopic and the macroscopic tools could replicate the empirical punctuality fairly well, with the macroscopic case study results being closer to the empirical data. Furthermore, allowing early departures of freight trains increased overall freight train punctuality without any major impact on passenger train punctuality, as determined by both tools. The results are encouraging, but further studies are needed to determine if macroscopic simulation is on-par with microscopic simulation.
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